"I was thinking about Special Ed concept of Least Restrictive Environment & idea that many of the concepts of special education, such as an IEP, are concepts we should want for every student...

Banning all these devices when there are many kids who can use them wisely & well is not putting kids into the least restrictive environment for their own learning.

Yes, there are some kids who struggle—despite many opportunities to figure how to manage it—to use technology in a classroom without it serving as a distraction. Let's admit that. [some examples & solutions]...Those instances are absolutely the exception, not the rule. (In talking w/ colleagues, I'd say that cell phone misuse is much lower at SLA than it is at schools that theoretically ban their existence.)...

But banning their use or locking up every laptop would hamstring so much of what we do, & it would not be, for the overwhelming majority of students, the least restrictive environment in which they could—& do—learn."